In virtual desktop infrastructures (VDIs), virtual desktop operating systems and applications, hosted on virtual machines (VMs) running on centralized servers, are delivered as managed services to end users via a network. Such centralized and automated management of the virtualized operating system, applications, and user data provides increased control and cost savings.
Some VDIs provide a feature whereby users can connect to virtual desktops without having to install any software on a client system. In one solution, a hypertext markup language (HTML), such as HTML5, is used to provide a view client for a user. The user enters a uniform resource locator (URL) of a remote connection and logs in to connect to a remote desktop or to remote applications. One such product is Horizon® View HTML Access by VMware, Inc.
In some HTML view client solutions, there is no easy way to synchronize files between the remote agent (or remote virtual desktop agent) and the local machine. Users can often copy and paste plain text transmitted from the remote agent to the local machine and displayed on a browser running on the local machine, but cannot transfer files. A user may want to edit a file in the virtual environment and then sync the edited file to the local machine or save a copy of the edited file to the local machine but often a limitation in bandwidth makes it inconvenient for transferring files between the remote agent and the local machine. Transferring files between the remote agent and the local machine is restricted in some HTML clients so that large file transfers do not interfere with transmission of other data, such as screen, keyboard, or mouse data.